The Week 8 Power Rankings are in ... but not without a hot sports opinion fresh out of the oven.

How people could consider Sunday night's game between the Seahawks and Cardinals bad football vexes me. I get it: Your fantasy running back didn't score. What we saw was a clash between two inspired defenses hell-bent on not letting the other win the game, a contest played with unwavering intensity. It was emblematic of the very fabric the sport was built on. Many of the penalties were personal fouls, pulling guys off the pile ... or holding because the pass rushers were playing out of their minds. NOT SLOPPY FOOTBALL. Guess how many turnovers there were? None. Now, tell me that's sloppy football.

Now, on to some of your hot takes ...

@HarrisonNFL thanks for putting the Vikings at the top of the power rankings last week... the curse is real

It wasn't the cakewalk the pundits (though
not this pundit) predicted, but it was
a road win for the
Patriots, who are 3-0 since
Tom Brady returned from suspension. That's why they are ahead of the
Vikings and
Cowboys. New England continues to impress on offense, even if all the numbers didn't jump off the page Sunday. The key figure: 7 of 12 on third-down conversions (58 percent). Also worth mentioning are the second-half adjustments from Bill Belichick and staff. The vaunted tight ends were barely involved in the first half at Heinz. Gronk rocked the place in the second half, cruising down the seam for a
36-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and a
37-yard catch-and-run in the fourth.
Gronk like candy.

RANK

2

5-1VIKINGS

1

The curse of the top spot continues. For the fourth time in the last five weeks, our No. 1 team fell. (Yes,
Patriots fans, it happened to your team, too.) This
Maddenesque phenomenon might've occurred last week had the
Vikings not been on a bye. The bottom line
in Philadelphia comes down to age-old football logic: turn the football over four times, and it doesn't matter how good your team is.
Sam Bradford gave his former squad the last laugh ... in the form of three giveaways. Next up:
at Chicago.

RANK

3

5-1COWBOYS

It was an off week for Dallas, a time when
Dak Prescott decided to
go home and fish rather than get into what a suddenly famous
Cowboys quarterback could get into. One not-so-well-known factoid to come out of the bye week: Dallas entered Week 7 leading the NFL with 17 drives of 10 plays or more while only allowing nine, a figure that is in the bottom half of the league. That speaks to a rested, effective defense, don't you think?

RANK

4

4-1-1SEAHAWKS

All those people on Twitter who complained that
Seahawks-Cardinals was an awful football game need to reassess what the sport is all about. What I saw was a
Seahawks defense that
wanted that game badly. On a night the offense couldn't move the football, Pete Carroll's defense and special teams did everything in their power to produce a scoring opportunity. Now if the general fantasy fan wants to hate on something, how about hating on coaches always playing for the field goal? Thought Seattle should've kept moving for a touchdown. The offense hadn't turned over the football all night. Carroll shouldn't have worried they were about to start almost 75 minutes in.

RANK

5

5-2BRONCOS

1

Statement win for the
Broncos on Monday night, with a blueprint I'm sure Gary Kubiak would love to replicate going forward: The defense held the
Texans to nine points,
C.J. Anderson eclipsed 100 yards rushing and
Trevor Siemian only was asked to make plays in spots. That said, it's just not fair for broadcasters to keep comparing the contracts of Siemian and
Brock Osweiler. Not fair because Siemian makes so much less money. And he's better.

RANK

6

4-2PACKERS

3

The questions regarding
Aaron Rodgers' play should slow down for a week. Well, until he fails to throw for 300 yards and post a 100-somethin' passer rating again. Has any player established a higher bar for himself to hit? (Did it look like he and all his teammates were going to go do Bar Method
in those color-rush white tights? I digress.)
Ty Montgomery was dynamic out there replacing
Eddie Lacy, but based on the number of times he tapped his helmet to come out, I don't think he's quite ready for the
Eddie Lacy workload. Maybe he should do Bar Method.

The
Raiders are 4-0 on the road this season; they've only reached that mark twice in their illustrious history. Even more noteworthy: The two years Oakland pulled off being the Mad Max of the NFL, they made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game -- in 1977 and 2000. Kenny Stabler was the QB for the Silver and Black in '77, and although he doesn't look anything like Stabler,
Derek Carr's free-wheeling style of play resembles Snake's. One other note:
Michael Crabtree is having himself a year. While
A.J. Green's
Hail Mary catch in Cincy was fortunate, this
over-the-helmet sucker by Crabtree was skill.

RANK

12

4-3STEELERS

2

So
Landry Jones didn't
hold the Steelers back as much as was prognosticated coming into Week 7. If
Ben Roethlisberger is the muscle car behind this Pittsburgh offense, consider Jones the '83 Pulsar with an aftermarket moonroof. Roethlisberger's fill-in threw for 281 yards with one touchdown and one pick, but he ultimately couldn't move the chains often enough (6 of 18 on third and fourth downs) to keep pace with the
Patriots' offense. Much-needed bye on deck for
Steelers, who will come out of their weekend off with a date in Baltimore. That's
one important game in the AFC North.

RANK

13

4-3BILLS

6

Why the significant drop following
a close road loss? One reason: With all the missing personnel this team has endured, the single player it can't afford to be without is
LeSean McCoy. This is a run-first team that's already down its top two wideouts. So it will be difficult for
Tyrod Taylor to pick up the slack through the air if Shady is out for any extended period of time. Shocking that this front seven -- or
any front seven -- let
Jay Ajayi rack up two bills (his second straight week hitting that mark). Yikes.

RANK

14

4-3LIONS

2

Three in a row for the upstart
Lions, who are staying afloat in the NFC North at 4-3. What makes this Detroit run more sustainable (remember, the
Lions finished 2015 winning six of eight) is the improved play of
Matthew Stafford since Jim Bob Cooter became offensive coordinator. Stafford has tossed 35 touchdowns to a scant eight interceptions in 16 games with Cooter as his OC. The
game-winner to Anquan Boldinon Sunday was a beaut, laid in between two levels of coverage. For his part, Boldin engineered an opening for his quarterback with a swim move past the corner.
Crafty would be the appropriate word. You know, it's free-agent signings like Boldin that fly under the radar in the spring and win games in the fall -- think
DeAngelo Williams signing with the
Steelers last year. Next up:
at Houston.

RANK

15

4-3REDSKINS

3

Washington couldn't make it five in a row
in the Motor City. It didn't help that the guy the team expects to motor in the run game couldn't stop putting the ball on the carpet.
Matt Jones revived an age-old problem, and his Achilles' heel, Sunday in Detroit, fumbling into the end zone. The mistake cost the
Redskinsa potential touchdown in a game they ultimately would lose by three points. With six lost fumbles since 2015, Jones is tied with
Melvin Gordon for the most among non-quarterbacks. On the bright side, while the #HTTR crowd waits on
Josh Doctson, it looks like the club has developed a player in
Jamison Crowder.

RANK

16

4-3GIANTS

2

Much-needed win for an organization that took heavy criticism last week. On the field, the
Giants' offense still feels out of sync. That said, we saw glimpses of what this defense can be. Granted,
Case Keenum makes fans of the other team want to pull out a case of beers and laugh it up. Keenum gave Big Blue four balls, with
Landon Collins taking one of them to the house in what was
the pick-six of the year. Re: Keenum --
Eli Manning didn't play much better.

RANK

17

3-4CHARGERS

7

If only the
Chargers owned a cool theme song that we could sing here. You know, something vintage to blast since they
beat a Falcons team that was donning throwback unis. Maybe a song with a disco beat to it. Too bad San Diego doesn't have something like that.
Oh well. Thought the
Chargers won this deal when
Philip Rivers delivered a perfect ball to
Antonio Gates at the goal line. Not so. That's OK ... when the defense steps up the way it has the last two weeks. Holy cow,
Joey Bosa has gone all
J.J. Watt on the NFL.

RANK

18

4-3TEXANS

3

If you like 5-yard ins and none-yard outs, this
Texans offense is for you! Much hand-wringing going on in Houston regarding a certain quarterback's contract. Remember, the
Texans are not on the hook for the entire $72 million that keeps getting tossed around. Also, it's only Week 8. The offensive line didn't fare well, lost a starter, and
Lamar Miller was playing hurt. There's more going on with this team than just bad quarterback play.

My colleague
@Michael Fabiano suggested that Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott, Errict Rhett, James Wilder, Earnest Graham, Charlie Garner and
Bobby Rainey could've run for 100 yards on the
49erson Sunday. The great Ricky Bell was added. I threw in Gary Anderson and Lars Tate for good measure. Care to add any?
(@HarrisonNFL) Tampa Bay racked up almost 250 yards rushing, which means
Mike Evans didn't see his usual 250 targets. Only 13 this week. He's on pace for 200. I'm not joking.

RANK

22

3-4DOLPHINS

4

Not sure what to make of
Jay Ajayi, who seemed to disappoint everyone -- Miami, the fans, fantasy owners -- this preseason and in the early goings of the regular season. Ajayi rushed for more than 200 yards
again, making it two straight games he's pulled off that feat. It also marks the fifth time in NFL history a player has cruised past the 200-yard barrier in consecutive games. The last guy to do it? Ricky Williams, in a
Dolphins uni. Wonder if Ajayi can handle the Ricky Williams workload better than Ricky Williams did.

After closing the deal on three close contests to start the season, the suddenly 3-4
Ravens can't buy a clutch win. The good news: No one is running away with the AFC North right now. The
Bengals are also 3-4 and haven't looked any sexier than Baltimore (the team, not the town). The
Steelers are in first, but they've lost two in a row and are starting
Landry Jones at quarterback. Both they and the
Ravens are on a bye, before
locking up in Baltimore in Week 9.

RANK

24

3-4COLTS

3

Might've been a
save-the-season-style win on Sunday for the
Colts, who were coming off their most devastating loss of the season in a campaign chock full of them. Central to the win in Nashville was
Andrew Luck putting the team on his back -- seemingly the central theme for this group every week. On "NFL
Fantasy Live" on Sunday morning, I felt real smart spinning a yarn about how
T.Y. Hilton had never scored a touchdown in eight career meetings with the
Titans. I don't feel so cool anymore. Nice work, T.Y.

Much like the
Colts, the
Saints' fortunes come down to whether or not their quarterback can keep them ahead in the weekly track meet. Coordinator Dennis Allen's defense has shown signs of improvement, even if the unit is far from playoff-viable. New Orleans allowed 326 yards
in Kansas City -- OK-ish, and certainly not a
bad number. The
Saints also limited the
Chiefs to three of nine on third-down conversions. But in the early portions of the contest, when
Drew Brees was so-so, the rest of the roster couldn't pick up the game for the quarterback like the
Saints were able to do
in San Diego in Week 4. And that's been the case all too often over the last several seasons.

RANK

27

2-5JETS

1

Been hollering, screaming, whining and everything in between for the
Jets to start using
Matt Forte more effectively, like they managed to do the first couple of weeks of the season. Finally, the dude received a heavy workload, even in a tough matchup
against the Ravens, and rewarded his coaching staff for its commitment. Forte piled up 154 yards from scrimmage after posting 125 in the previous three games
combined. Is it fun or weird that
Ryan Fitzpatrick, the guy many point to as having ruined the season, might've saved it Sunday? Neither. Fitzmagic got the
Jets to 2-5, though. #getexcited

RANK

28

1-5PANTHERS

1

At 1-5, Ron Rivera
told his players to go home and get their minds off football over the Week 7 bye. Maybe that was Riverboat Ron's best risk to take, flirting with the danger of encouraging players to get away from the game when the season's results thus far scream that more preparation, film watching and hard work are needed. The reality is, the defense has been terrible of late, having allowed 35.3 points and 469.7 yards per game over the three games heading into the break, and one way to snap the chain of bad performances is to remind the guys what and who they're playing for: family, love of the game, whatever. You get perspective in any career by taking time away from the job.

Matt Barkley ... starting versus the
Vikings defense ...
in Week 8. If reading that felt as awful as it did to type, be thankful
Jay Cutler was
cleared to play as of Monday -- although
that sentence has its own distasteful qualities.
Brian Hoyer's
broken left arm means he
departs the season without having struggled. Why is that relevant? Because if the
Bears brass is impressed with what it saw in Hoyer, Chicago could draft a quarterback and retain Hoyer over Cutler. The organization has already paid out most of Cutler's guaranteed money, which means the guaranteed money is no longer an impediment to moving on. Question is, what's the plan?

RANK

32

0-7BROWNS

When is the last time a quarterback ran for over 100 yards in a game while throwing for 100 yards or
less?Browns QB
Kevin Hogan's 104-yard rushing outburst
Sunday (he threw for exactly 100 yards) was the first such game of the NFL season. In fact, it marked only the eighth time since 1960 that a quarterback pulled off that feat. It's also the only time since 1960 that a quarterback rushed for over 100 yards in his first career action. Wow. Oh, the
Browns are 0-7.